Freakazoid
(2017 NC title sequence) NC: Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don't have to. Imagine if... (Shots of the following appear...) NC (vo): ...Deadpool, Andy Kaufman, and Monty Python's Flying Circus... NC: ...made a Saturday cartoon. (Cut to footage of the cartoon ''Freakazoid)'' NC (vo): A superhero who saw crimefighting more as a side thing, especially when there's important things to do, like teach Norwegian... (On a Viking ship, Freakazoid is seen dressed as a Viking (or at least a Viking helmet with braided pigtails on it)) Freakazoid: (holding a fish, gesturing toward a blackboard drawing of a narwhal) This is the narwhal. (pronounced "nar-whale"; gestures toward a message on the blackboard that he reads) Denne er narkval. NC (vo): ...perform a wedding for your hands, or figure out which monkeys in the movie Congo were actually monkeys and which ones were guys in suits. (The clip from an episode "The Wrath of Guitierrez" is shown, where Freakazoid, Sgt. Mike Cosgrove and a Scotsman named Roddy MacStew are seen at Capitol Cinema, where they are seeing the movie ''Congo)'' Cosgrove: (pointing) That's a real monkey. Freakazoid: No, that's some guy in a suit. Cosgrove: Okay. (points again) But now, that's a real monkey. Roddy: No, that's another guy in a suit! (Cut to the outside of the theater) Cosgrove (vo): Now, that's a real monkey. Roddy (vo): THAT'S A GUY IN A SUIT!!! Cosgrove (vo): We're gonna have to see this again. NC: Oh, and remember when your mom... (The clips from the episode "Dexter's Date" are followed, the first one showing Dexter Douglas' mother, Debbie, waving him goodbye from the van as he goes to his date at the prom) NC (vo): ...wished you a good time at the prom? Debbie: Have a good time, now! (Three instances of the episode cutting back to Debbie waving to Dexter are shown, including the post-credits scene) NC (vo): What if that just repeated through the course of the night over... Debbie: Have a good time, now! NC (vo): ...and over... Debbie: Have a good time, now! NC (vo): ...and over? Debbie: Have a good time, now! NC: You may think this kind of animated insanity came from something like... (The poster for the show ''Family Guy, the collage of images from various Adult Swim shows, He-Man singing "What's Up", Game Grumps and Animation Domination High-Def ''programming block on FOX) NC (vo): Family Guy, or Adult Swim, or any number of the YouTube videos. NC: But the fact is, this combination of animation and troll humor predates them all. NC (vo): It's the 90s' kinda-ish hit, Freakazoid. Produced by Steven Spielberg, this was a very different piece compared to his other productions like Tiny Toons or Animaniacs. And though it never got as big as those shows, it grew a cult following over the years. While this type of self-aware, almost non-humor at times, has been done in the past, you could argue it's never been done in animation on as big a scale as this. Now, animated shows of this kind of humor are everywhere. But in the 90s, there wasn't really anything quite like this. NC: Shows have knocked down the fourth wall in the past, but this show... (One clip from the episode "Candle Jack" is shown, showing Freakazoid interrupting the episode's plot just to show the viewers the set and the crew) NC (vo): ...walked past the wall, chatted with the people on the other side, observed the snacks on the catering table and discussed those snacks in the history of them in great detail. Freakazoid: (hugging the kids starring in the episode) Whether they're, you know, religious, experiential or not, I love them, all of them. We'll hug after the show. NC (vo): To some, this could be off-putting. But to the select number of crazies and wackos that love this kind of non-sequitur humor, this was just the right amount of madness. Its energy contagious, its maturity obliterated, its lasting effects completely unique. And I'm here to talk with the people who made this possible. (NC inhales dramatically as the orchestral music starts up) NC: Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever on Nostalgia Critic, I give you co-creator Tom Ruegger and Freakazoid himself, Paul Ru- (Via transmission, Paul Rugg and Tom Ruegger themselves are shown sitting in two chairs) Paul: Uh, we've been on the show before. NC: What? When? Tom: [[Animaniacs Tribute|''Animaniacs tribute]]. '''NC:' Oh, shit. Yeah, yeah. Um... Well, this is the first time you're on the show talking about Freakazoid, right? Tom: I guess. NC: Okay, okay. I-I-I'll just build up that angle. Paul: (gives a thumbs up) Cool. NC: (resumes speaking dramatically) For the very first time ever on Nostalgia Critic talking about Freakazoid, co-creator Tom Ruegger, and Freakazoid himself, Paul Rugg! (Paul and Tom (he is now wearing sunglasses out of nowhere) cry tears of joy and hug each other as the audience cheers and the captions below introduce them: "Paul Rugg: Producer/Story Editor/Writer/Voice of Freakazoid/Cryer" and "Tom Ruegger: Senior Producer/Co-Creator/Writer/Also Cryer") Tom: (sobbing) Tha.. Thank you, guys. Paul: (sobbing) It's a dream come true! NC: First of all, thank you for coming on my show just to come on my show and not promote some sort of product or event. (Paul and Tom are now showing the papers promoting the Freak-a-Con happening on March 15 and its live Facebook broadcast to the camera) Paul: Uh, no problem, Critic. Tom: We're...we're just happy to chat with you about anything. NC: So the show was originally being developed... (The clips from the show resume showing, as well as the first sketches for characters like Freakazoid, the Cobra Queen, Major Danger and Nunjas) NC (vo): ...by Batman ''producer Bruce Timm, as well as Paul Dini, who was tasked with making a superhero comedy. He dropped some characters and even tested a sort of demo with the ''Batman episode "Beware the Creeper", mixing comedy and action. Paul: Bruce Timm, uh, his specialty was superhero stuff. (A clip of Steven Spielberg discussing the script with the writers and the still show of the Creeper as depicted in ''Batman: The Brave and the Bold)'' Paul (vo): Steven (Spielberg) basically wanted a comedy show, where Bruce wanted a superhero show with comedic overtones. Paul: I think Steven was really trying to push it to be very, very, very comedic first, and that's just not something, I mean, Bruce Timm was interested in doing. Tom (vo): '''As far as the silliness, it pretty much hit it out of the park, and it may have got... '''Tom: ...even sillier that Steven had anticipated. Paul: I would say that's probably true. (Another clip from the episode "Candle Jack" is shown, showing Freakazoid and Steff tied together and sitting on a stump) Freakazoid: I-I wanted to do one of those funny things, like, you ever watch F Troop where Agarn says, "There's no way I'm wearin' a dress!" and Forrest Tucker's like, "Yeah, you're wearin' that dress!", and then they wipe... (releases his hands for a moment to wiggle them and make a silly sound with his tongue, before putting them back) ...and Agarn's wearing a dress. (Whip pan to a clip of the ''F Troop ''episode "The Loco Brothers", where Corporal Randolph Agarn is actually in a dress. And yes, that was in the show) Agarn: Yoo-hoo! NC: Seeing how time and budget were already low... NC (vo): ...everybody came running in to Freakazoid with little time to prepare and even less time to figure out what kind of show it was going to be. Even in several episodes, they confess they don't always know what they want to keep around. (In an episode "And Fanboy Is His Name", Freakazoid shows an obese nerd named Fanboy his Freakalair) Freakazoid: My Freakalair. Fanboy: I didn't know you had one of these! Freakazoid: Well, in this episode, anyway. You know, we're trying a lot of stuff out. Tom: We started in January developing the show and writing up the stuff, and we were gonna be up to September, so we had 8-9 months. Tom (vo): As opposed to, say, like, Animaniacs, where we had, like... Tom: ...two years. Paul: (chuckles) Yes, right, yes. Paul (vo): The show was gonna be greenlit, we were on, and we... (stammers) we didn't have anything. We didn't have a show. Tom (vo): We didn't really know who was in it, and... Tom: ...we knew there was a guy named Freakazoid in it. Paul: That's all we knew. Tom (vo): We just started writing anything we could think of that had a superhero in it and was funny. That's why some of the early segments... Tom: ...are just little strange, little pieces, like, uh, "Legends Who Lunch" or "Handman". (The clip from the second mentioned episode is shown, with Freakazoid talking to "Handman": his right hand that has googly eyes on it, surrounded by multiple guns and his nemesis, the Lobe) Freakazoid: Handman! You've come in the nick of time! "Handman": I wouldn't let you down, Freakabazaal. The Lobe: Oh, just stop. Freakazoid: What? The Lobe: This is stupid. NC: Part of what makes the humor work is Bruce Timm's designs. NC (vo): Having a more human-looking scale than less stretchy than, say, Wakko Warner or Plucky Duck. The fact that they're more physically grounded offsets the strange and childish humor they're constantly partaking in. If, say, Ren and Stimpy were doing this material, it wouldn't have worked as well, but much like Monty Python, the more human and adult they seem, the funnier it is when they do something strange and ridiculous. Was this always the intention? (Paul and Tom think for a little bit) Tom: Hmm. (whispers to Paul) If we say "yes", I think it'll make us look pretty smart. Paul: (whispering) I can only say "yes". Tom: (aloud) Yes. Yes. Paul: (aloud) Yes. (The clips are focusing on titular character's allies which had their own segments in Season 1: the Huntsman, Lord Bravery, Fanboy, Fatman and Boy Blubber, etc.) NC (vo): Unlike other superhero shows, even comedies, Freakazoid started off more as a variety show. It showcased many strange characters like Lord Bravery, the Huntsman and Fanboy, who did absolutely nothing superhero-related in any episodes. Now, don't get me wrong, they try to get to the superhero stuff, but the slow forces of reality always prolonged it to a point where we never actually see any of it. (A clip from the episode "Sewer Rescue" is shown, showing Lord Bravery, his wife and mother-in-law drinking tea) Lord Bravery: (speaking in John Cleese-like fashion) Oh, yes, let me get the tea. Mother-in-Law: (in a raspy voice) You forgot the sugar. Lord Bravery: Most people your age die. Why won't you? (The titular character from the 1996's show ''The Tick is shown briefly)'' NC (vo): In shows like The Tick, reality would get in the way, too, but he did eventually fight crime. Here, it's a complete waste of time every episode. (We are shown a clip from the episode "A Time for Evil", showing the Huntsman speaking to his chief) Lieutenant Artie King: What can I say, Huntsman? Crime is still down. Huntsman: (leaves) Well, maybe I'll go to the all-night aquarium. Tom: When we were given the go-ahead to start working on the show... Tom (vo): ...we had to just start generating material, writing stupid little things about superheroes. I had about 60 to 70 pages of just little, little, tiny skits. Steven... Tom: ...I think he liked them, but thought they were, like, schizophrenic for us. (Paul laughs) (The footage of an episode "Mo-Ron" is shown, featuring a fat green alien, who doesn't say anything but "I am Mo-Ron", and then it cuts to the scene of all the animated crew of the show fighting each other, including Spielberg) Tom (vo): One of the early sketches I did was, uh, "Mo-Ron", which, I think, insulted Steven right off the bat. Tom: "Let's bury that!" (Paul continues laughing) Freakazoid: (to the camera) Well, that's our show. I hope you had as much fun watching it as we had making it. (He points to the crew, which is shown fighting) Freakazoid: Come to think of it, I hope you had more fun watching it than we had making it. Tom: Paul, of course, came up with, which was also essential, an origin story... (The footage from the intro and the episode "The Chip, Part I" is shown, showing a teenager named Dexter Douglas sitting at the computer and getting sucked into it to become Freakazoid. Since then, each time Dexter says "I'm freaking out", he turns into Freakazoid) Tom (vo): ...which, I think, was, like, the fifth or sixth episode to air. Paul (vo): John McCann and I, uh, we were sort of being more practical. Like, how does Freakazoid turn into Freakazoid, and... Days of think...thinking about that. And...and we came back in to Tom and said... Paul: "We think we know how he turns into Freakazoid", and I think you said, "I couldn't care less." (Tom bursts out laughing as Paul looks at his watch) "We're re...we're really late, so I n...I need some scripts. I don't care how it... It could change from week to week. I don't care." Tom (vo): But he also figured out how one of his superpowers was flying, which... Tom: ...which was just him running around, going... (puts his hands in the air) "Psssssshhh..." Paul: Yeah. (One clip shows Freakazoid running out of the room and after a car with arms raised and making a sound similar to a plane starting up) NC: Even the origin of Freakazoid isn't revealed until episode 7. NC (vo): But, maybe that's so they would have time to obtain their knockout celebrity guest. ("The Chip, Part I" opens with a man sitting at a table, hidden in the shadows) Narrator: The president of the Motion Picture Association of America, (The shadows disappear to reveal...) Mr. Jack Valenti. NC: (slams the table, excited) Holy shit! They know what the kids want! Jack Valenti: Bum-bum-bummm! Paul: The origin story came about because, I think, halfway through the season... Paul (vo): ...Tom had a brilliant idea. It's like, "Wh...why don't we tackle how this all happened?" (chuckles) Debbie: (shown at his son's door with a perpetual smile) You spend far too much time with your computer. Dexter: It's my life. Debbie: (still smiling) That's so very, very sad. (closes the door) Paul (vo): I was playing around... Paul: ...and I started writing Jack Valenti... Paul (vo): ...who was the president of the Motion Picture Association of America just as a joke. Paul: The only note we got back on that whole episode was...Steven said, "I can get you Jack Valenti." (They both laugh) ''And we were like, "Man." '''Jack Valenti:' (reading a fan letter) "I'd like to know how Freakazoid got his start as a superhero. What were the special circumstances? My home is made of adobe." Paul (vo): I think that was one of the favorite... Paul: ...things that...whoever did, 'cause here's this guy, he was in the Johnson administration. That's... Tom (vo): "The only reason I'm doing this is, uh..." Paul (vo): "It's for..." Tom and Paul (vo): "Steven Spielberg." (They laugh) Paul: And I'll tell you, when he comes into room, the first thing you see are the cheeks. Tom: (laughs) His lips with the cheeks. Paul: Yeah. Jack Valenti: I'm Jack Valenti, and these are my cheeks. Paul: God bless. (A clip from "Dexter's Date" is shown, showing...) Debbie: (waving) Have a good time, now! NC: The guest stars on the show often have... (Four villain characters are shown: Armondo Guitierrez, Dr. Mystico, Professor Jones and the Lobe, which were voiced by Ricardo Montalban, Tim Curry, Jonathan Harris and David Warner) NC (vo): ...articulate, commanding, almost Shakespearean voices that have done a wide range of theatre and film. The demanding presence just makes the humor all the more enjoyable when you realize how much their talent is being hilariously wasted on pure immaturity. (Freakazoid is shown being strapped to a table by Guitierrez) Guitierrez: Now, look at this duck. (All of a sudden, a stock black-and-white footage of a duck walking out of the pond is shown) Freakazoid (vo): It's just a duck. Guitierrez (vo): Oh, no, my friend. Freakazoid (vo): It's a plain old duck. Guitierrez (vo): 'No, it's a very special duck, because... ''(It turns out to be the huge model which has a tramp inside it) There is a guy in it! '''Tom (vo): While we did have some great guest stars... Tom: I think there were certain things that Paul wanted to hear from them. (The clip of "The Wrath of Guitierrez" shows Freakazoid escaping from, well, the wrath of Guitierrez) Paul (vo): Ricardo saying, "You are the weenie!" Freakazoid: (to himself) He's such a weenie. Guitierrez: I am not a weenie! (The lightning strikes) You are the weenie! Paul: I remember Peter Hastings running into my office and going... Paul (vo): "You're gonna have Ricardo Montalban saying "Uncle Fudge's Cooking Lab"?!" And I go, "Yeah." Paul: And he goes... (gives a double thumbs up while Tom laughs) Paul (vo): You...they didn't have to pay me anymore.... Paul: ...just to have them say that was awesome. (Another stock footage is described by Guitierrez) Guitierrez (vo): This man is giving his wife kissings and lovings, then a monkey appears, and she thinks it's the guy! Look out, woman, it's a monkey! NC: My personal favorites are David Warner as the Lobe... NC (vo): ...whose voice is so intimidating when he's being evil... (The clips from the episode "The Freakazoid" are shown) The Lobe: The Lobe began his treacherous reign of terror! NC (vo): ...yet so funny when he's being a whiny crybaby... The Lobe: (to Freakazoid) Nope. Now, that wasn't me. It's true, really. (Cut back to Freakazoid showing him torn piece of superhero code book) I knew I shouldn't have put that on there! (smacks himself on brain head) Dumb, dumb, dumb! NC: And, of course, Ed Asner as Cosgrove... (Sergeant Mike Cosgrove, a grumpy old policeman, is shown in various clips) NC (vo): ...whose deadpan deliveries of absolute insanity are an art unto themselves. Cosgrove: We're been through a lot together. Now go away. / That means we'll have to walk through dooty water. / I always like the little teacup ride. Freakazoid: How come you never got married? Cosgrove: Because I like meat too much. Freakazoid: You could be married and still eat a lot of meat. Cosgrove: (after a beat) I didn't know that. Paul (vo): Cosgrove is sort of an invention from John McCann. Paul: He only put him in one script, his "Dance of Doom" script. Paul (vo): So the first time Ed Asner came to record... Paul: (takes the script for the episode) ...he was sort of like just there by the microphone, just reading over his lines... Paul (vo): ...not...not even acting, going... Paul: (reads from the script, imitating Cosgrove) "Uh, hey, Freakazoid. You wanna go for a mint?" (hands the script to Tom) And I remember John McCann went, "That is what I want!" Paul (vo): And Ed's like, "You don't want me to...act, do anything, alright?" Paul: And John McCann's like, "No! That!" Paul (vo): Ed would come in, we go, "Ed, don't worry, you don't have to act." Paul: And he'd go... "Yeah." (Tom laughs) And that's how it happened. NC: It might also have, believe it or not, the most insane... NC (vo): ...Tim Curry performance ever. (We then go to clips from "Island of Dr. Mystico", starting from the titular character, who's voiced and looks like Tim Curry and has a really expressive animation) Mystico: It's time...to play! NC: And if you know Tim Curry, that is quite an accomplishment. (Mystico jumps on the table in front of Freakazoid, the Lobe and Cosgrove, chewing the scenery, almost literally) Mystico: They barred me from the universities! Who's crazy now, hmmm?! Who's mad NOW?! (grins evilly) HMMMM?!! (He then jumps right back into his chair) Try the casserole. Paul (vo): Tim Curry came, ready to play. I was always amazed... Paul: ...'cause Andrea Romano would send out the scripts, and they would have him for a week. Tom: Yeah. Paul: And, uh, invariably, every single big star we had, they came ready. Paul (vo): So, obviously, Tim Curry had thought about how he was gonna do all that. Paul: "They called me mad! Insane! Wendell!" And he just went, like, through the roof, and we're like... (drops his daw in amazement) Mystico: They called me mad! Insane! Wendell! Paul: There was a camera crew there, um, to film Tim Curry being there. Tom: Yeah. Paul: And Jonathan Harris... (The image of a stunned and surprised Dr. Zachary Smith from ''Lost in Space, played by Harris, is shown)'' Paul (vo): ...who walked in... John is like, "Is that a camera crew because of stars, you know?" (Paul and Tom chuckle) Paul: "Oh, yes, John", and he was... (crosses eyes and sighs) (We cut to...) Debbie: (waving) Have a good time, now! NC (vo): Where Tiny Toons seemed mainly for kids and Animaniacs seemed mainly for kids and adults, Freakazoid seemed mainly not just for adults, but for adults who loved obscure, even outdated references. NC: Christ, there's a musical send-up... NC (vo): ...to Hello Dolly! For no reason at all! NC: And it goes on for a long time! (The clip from "Dexter's Date" is showing the Lobe dancing with the French waiters to Hello Dolly! opening number) Waiters: (singing) Bonjour! Qui, bonjour, Lobey! Oh, bonjour! Gosh, bonjour, Lobey! (The footage from the ''Amadeus spoof called "The Normadeus" is followed)'' NC (vo): You have to wonder if this worked more because it was a kids show and therefore fit less, or if being on a more grown-up outlet like Adult Swim would have changed things. Tom (vo): We were trying to... Tom: ...amuse ourselves, make each other laugh, and that was our goal. Paul (vo): I don't think we ever said, "Can we get away with that?". It was...it wa... The thought was... Paul: "I find this really funny. What do you guys think?" "Oh, yeah, I think that's really funny." Paul (vo): And that was always the goal. It wasn't to pull the wool over anyone's eyes... Paul: ...or to...trick the others. Tom: (overlapping) No. We weren't trying...we weren't trying to slip something pass, you know. Paul: Yeah. Paul (vo): As far as Hello Dolly...the Hello Dolly! number...that just seemed the natural progression. Paul: For whatever reason, I thought it'd be funny to have sort of, uh, a Hello Dolly! component to it. Paul (vo): We never thought, "Oh, boy, our kids are not gonna like Hello Dolly." We didn't really care, which clearly shows... Paul: ...'cause the number goes on for five minutes. (Tom laughs) Tom (vo): I think it took, like, uh, seven months to just animate that scene. Paul: Man. Whoo! That's weird stuff. NC: With that said, did anyone ever say no? Like...anyone? Tom: We weren't being closely supervised. Paul: No. Tom (vo): Uh, the goal was to...get the thing done, get it out there. Tom: The only thing I recall, uh, where they said, "No, you can't run these"... (The ending of the third episode, which a parody of commercials for Carnival Cruise Lines that were airing at the time, is Tress MacNeille talking over black-and-white tropical vacation imagery, while apologizing that they have no scenes to show from next week's episode) Tom (vo): We made these cruise ship commercials, which were... Paul (vo): ...were airing then. Tom: ...based on a cruise line. They were very somber. Tom (vo; speaking softly): "You can relax on our cruise ships. Everything is nice." (normal) So we did these, uh, commercials' work. Tom: (speaking softly as Paul chuckles) ''"We don't have any footage to show you from ''Freakazoid, because we're way behind schedule." Tom (vo): And, uh...but we had cruise ship, but it's your...pictures of cruise ships behind it. Tom: But the lawyers of Warner Bros. said, "No, these are too close to the real commercial. You can't let it... We'll get sued." NC: One of you at some point must have just stated, "No. This is too obscure, too silly, too crazy." Paul: No. We would only say no to each other like, "Eh, that's not funny", or "Nah, I don't really think that's gonna fly." (The footage from the episode "Two Against Freak" is shown, showing Freakazoid in the hospital, watching his favorite Japanese show ''Hero Boy)'' Paul (vo): I remember John McCann and I, we struggled a bit with Hero Boy, like... Paul: ...bringing him back and stuff, uh, but then...then we were like, "Ah, let's just...let's just do more Hero Boy", so... But our... Tom: Voiced...voiced by John McCann, like that... (shakes fists in the air like Hero Boy) Paul: Voiced by John McCann. Tom: "I must succeed!" Paul: "I must succeed!" (Many Hero Boys are shown coming out of the cloning machine, each of them saying "I must succeed!") NC: (smiling) Lord knows, I wouldn't know anything about obscurity. (A clip from ''Street Fighter is shown below)'' M. Bison: Of course! NC: Everybody gets that. (And we go to a commercial. After returning, we're shown clips from season 2, mostly the episode "Freak-a-Panel") NC (vo): In Season 2, the format changed slightly to focus more on Freakazoid. Imagine: focusing on the start of the show. Characters like Lord Bravery and the Huntsman ask what the hell happened to their role. Freakazoid has them wash his car, and the episode ends. NC: It fits the show's nature, of course, but was it tough losing those characters and changing the format? Paul: Our second season, uh... (to Tom) You went off to do other things. Tom: Road Rovers and other stuff. Paul: Right. Paul (vo): John and I were like, "Well, who will produce it? We don't want to do that." Jean MacCurdy took us to lunch. Paul: And she said, "I really need you to do this, and I...I'm holding a knife under the table." (Tom laughs) Paul (vo): We're like, "Okay, we'll do it." We had a meeting at Emmaline, I think... Paul: ...with Jamie Kellner and all the big Warner Bros. mucky-mucks... Paul (vo): ...and they all decided that we should not do any more silly little pieces, but half-hour stories. But little did they know... Paul: ...we would just be like...we'll just do longer stupid things. Paul (vo): I didn't mind it so much. I think it opened me up anyway... Paul: ...to do weirder stuff, but that's just me. Tom: Oh, and you had more time to do weirder stuff. Paul: Yeah. NC: Sadly, though, the audience for Freakazoid was not growing as big as the studio wanted. NC (vo): Every time a new timeslot was given, it would move around the following week. 7:00 A.M. is not the time the people who want to watch this show are up. Tom: Well, I think the constantly changing air times...yeah, sort of killed us on The WB. Tom (vo): The WB had this new campaign: "Big Kids Go First!". Tom: So they... (chuckles) would show it at 7:00 A.M., but... (Paul laughs) big kids were asleep. Tom (vo): Then, we ultimately got bounced over to Cartoon Network. Tom: We had incredibly great numbers, and there was talk of them, uh, ordering more episodes... Paul (vo): Yeah. Tom (vo): ...but alas, that did not happen. NC: In the final episode... (The ending of the episode "Normadeus" is shown, with most of the characters from the show coming on stage and singing "We'll Meet Again" together) NC (vo): ...most of the villains, allies and guest stars are all called back to sing "We'll Meet Again". Was there an awareness... NC: ...that this would probably be the final episode? Tom: They knew. Paul: Yeah. Tom: Paul and John knew. Paul (vo): The WB hated us. Like, a lot. When I was writing that last episode... Paul: ...we knew we were cancelled, and when I finally started writing..."We'll Meet Again", all that stuff, uh, I was like, "Man. This is...this is...this is kind...kind of sad." Paul (vo): And by the way, I think that was one of the only musical pieces we ever licensed. Paul: And it cost...a fortune. Paul (vo): Jean McCurdy had seen Norm Abram at some convention in New York... Paul: ...and she came back. I...I saw her in the office. She said, "Oh, I saw Norm Abram", and I'm like, "Oh, boy, he'd be great guy to have on Freakazoid", and I was kinda joking. (Tom laughs) And, uh... Paul (vo): ...she said, "Well, I can get him." Tom (vo): He...he took acting classes... Tom: ...for, like, six months... Paul: Yes. Tom: ...in preparation for the show. Paul: Yes. NC: But, maybe it's not the end of Freakazoid as we know it. What's Freak-a-Con? Paul: Freakazoid's popularity is sort of...is on the upswing. People want to talk about it a lot. Paul (vo): The idea was to sort of bring, uh, convention together. And we talked, you know, we talked with various people. Paul: We looked into, uh, Radio City Music Hall. "Could we, you know, could we make a deal there?", and we couldn't quite come to terms. Then we tried, you know, Staples Center, Los Angeles, but couldn't quite... Tom: Almost. Paul: Almost. Couldn't quite make it up, so, but then we...we finally have a new venue. Um, and, uh, it's Tom's garage. Paul (vo): It's an intimate space. Kind of answer questions for the first time, uh, live. Paul: Have people write questions, and we'll answer it. Tom (vo): Paul Dini's gonna be there. Paul (vo): Paul...Paul Dini. We have Joe Leahy coming. Paul: We have Steve and Julie Bernstein coming, who are going to be sharing their musical gifts. (Photos of various Freakazoid cosplayers are shown) Paul (vo): There is a contest out there for people to reinvent their idea of Freakazoid fanboy or fangirl, make a video of them saying... Paul: ...why Freakazoid is probably the best superhero ever. Tom (vo): And dressed up as their fan, I think. Paul (vo): Right. Tom: So we want to get as many people, uh, tuning in to this live event. Paul: On March 15... (The Facebook page for Freak-a-Con is shown) Paul (vo): ...5:00 P.M. Pasific Time. Tom (vo): Go to the Facebook page and write the questions that we'll be anwering. NC: Well, if you're a Freakazoid fan, that is definitely worth checking out. (More clips from the show are followed as NC gives his overall thought on it) NC (vo): Freakazoid is strange, crazy and doesn't apologize for any of it. It's the kind of humor done by people who half the time don't even care if you find it funny as long as they find it funny. That kind of love and dedication for your own jokes is both so odd, and yet so passionate, you can't help but find it intriguing. Freakazoid is certainly not everybody's show, but in a kids' market that tries to get as many demographics as possible, that truly does make it unique. It doesn't satirise what's popular, it satirizes what it loves. It doesn't get mega-stars you know, it gets fun people they've always wanted to work with. It's not Tiny Toons, Animaniacs or Pinky and the Brain, it's its own totally abstract creature. It's insane, it's weird, it has to be seen to totally get it or not get it. It's one of a kind, and a lot of people worked hard to make it that way. NC: Thank you, guys, so much again for talking to me about this crazy-ass show. Tom: Thank you. Paul: No, you. You. Mmmmm! (They both chuckle) I just wanna eat you up! Tom: Love you! (And the last clip shown is...) Debbie: (waving) Have a good time, now! NC: I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don't have to. (He gets up and leaves. The credits roll) Channel Awesome tagline - Freakazoid: You could be married and still eat a lot of meat. Cosgrove: I didn't know that. Category:Content Category:Guides Category:The Nostalgia Critic Transcripts Category:Nostalgia Critic Category:Warner Bros Category:NC Mini-Reviews Category:Editorials Category:Transcripts